did Eagles greatest hits regain most albums sold again over Michael Jackson thriller??

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by bigmikerocks, Apr 27, 2015.

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  1. JohnnyQuest

    JohnnyQuest Forum Resident

    Location:
    Paradise
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  2. 007james

    007james Forum Resident

    Location:
    nyc
    I can't believe that Led Zeppelin IV did not surge ahead after Jimmy Page's new high quality mastering and the addition of the bonus tracks....
     
  3. redmetalmoose

    redmetalmoose Forum Resident

    Location:
    New England
    Is this list legit?
    84. Tim Landen The Hits 18,300,000
    85. Supertramp Breakfast In America 18,200,000
    Has anyone heard of Tim Landen?
    For someone who has supposedly sold over 18 million of his greatest hits album,you'd think maybe you might of heard of him in passing.
    Big in China maybe.:shrug:
     
  4. HelloPoodle

    HelloPoodle Forum Resident

    Location:
    Athens GA

    You might enjoy http://forgotify.com/ which only plays songs that have never been played on Spotify. It's pretty fun to see what it comes up with; I just got a double-shot of shawm-heavy Medieval music followed by "Marthely Mumenthaler & Vrenely Pfyl" (And here I thought those two were household names!)
     
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  5. RichC

    RichC Forum Resident

    Location:
    Charlotte, NC
    I suspect anything that's been released in the last few years not on a major label, with no online buzz or promotional push.
    It's what economists call the "long tail effect"... People still purchase as much music as before (if you count downloads and paying streams in addition to physical media), but the numbers are far more spread out because the barriers to entry have collapsed.
    Example: In the 60's (and even into the 80's), it was more-or-less impossible for an unsigned band to get the funds needed to record a "professional" album and get it distributed nationwide. A single? Maybe? A regional release? Sure. But national exposure took real money. Even a "signed band" (like Big Star) experienced commercial failure because their label didn't have the tools to get their albums into stores so customers could buy them. It became easier in the 90s, but the entire structure didn't really collapse until the Internet became the go-to marketplace for most of the music-buying (and listening) public.

    Today, an artist can record their music for almost nothing... Make a digital file that allows for unlimited "purchases" with literally no upfront cost (as opposed to the cost per unit of pressing CDs or vinyl)... And get it distributed nationally (and even globally) through a variety of websites. But the downside is this: Instead of competing with, say, 500 other artists in a tiny record shop (or 10,000 other artists in a Tower or Virgin megastore from the 90s), the artist is now competing with literally MILLIONS of other artists out there, ranging from heavily promoted major-label acts to complete unknowns. And that ratio only gets worse and worse with every passing year.

    And this is the "long tail"... A big rock artist that might've sold 4 million back in the 90s now only sells 500K, tops. Where did those 3.5 million other sales go? Well, they're scattered among thousands of other artists, some on big labels, some on small ones, and some who wouldn't have been on the playing field 10 years ago. But they can all be bought just as easily as the "big" artist. But again, their sales are a fraction and a fraction and a fraction... And as the tail unwinds, you have artists releasing albums that literally sell no more than 10-20 copies TOTAL.

    And yes, I know this was a very detailed answer to a jokey question, but I got carried away.....
     
  6. PacificOceanBlue

    PacificOceanBlue Senior Member

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  7. southamorican

    southamorican Forum Resident

    Location:
    São Paulo
  8. MikeVielhaber

    MikeVielhaber Forum Resident

    Location:
    Memphis, TN
    I'm not sure I buy the sales number considering the shipped number. Who ships 11 million more copies than sold.
     
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  9. markbrow

    markbrow Forum President

    Location:
    Denver
    You could only buy things on full album CDs, so if you liked a song you bought the album. As noted above, Eagles still No. 1 in the U.S. due to sales over time.

    Those numbers are pretty meaningless now -- no one will ever move units like that again because the market has shifted away from moving units.
     
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  10. JohnnyQuest

    JohnnyQuest Forum Resident

    Location:
    Paradise
    Still don't believe the Eagle's beat out Thriller. Women lie, men lie, numbers don't.
    I'm still sure Thriller outsold it by millions.
     
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  11. Thom

    Thom Forum Resident

    I still can't comprehend that it was once possible for a hot act (*N Sync) to sell 2.4 million CDs in one week. And that was in 2000. The fall really was precipitous.
     
  12. MikeVielhaber

    MikeVielhaber Forum Resident

    Location:
    Memphis, TN
    Yeah but nowhere does it say the Eagles are number one OVER MJ. They are tied according to units shipped.
     
  13. groovelocked

    groovelocked Forum Resident

    Location:
    Columbus OH (USA)
    I don't believe any of these lists. I believe music industry entities severely under report sales when it comes to printing royalty checks, yet over report sales when printing hype.
     
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  14. cdollaz

    cdollaz Forum Resident

    Location:
    Richmond, TX, USA
    How did We Can't Dance sell more than Invisible Touch?
     
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  15. tim185

    tim185 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Australia
    Nah, you may be cool...
    but its not your music taste that defines that :)
     
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  16. Turnaround

    Turnaround Senior Member

    Location:
    -
    Maybe the lesson is that it takes four guys, pulling their best songs from four albums, and a ten year head start during the music industry's peak years of album sales, to topple MJ's solo album.

    "You are truly the King of Pop."
     
  17. DeRosa

    DeRosa Vinyl Forever

    I own many more than 1,000 records and CDs....
    But I actually own only 38 titles on the top 300 best sellers list,
    Mostly from a handful of really big artists, Beatles, Floyd, and a few others.
    Should I be smug or ashamed?
     
    Last edited: Apr 27, 2015
  18. skateaway

    skateaway Forum Resident

    Location:
    Australia
    78 for me.
     
  19. RichC

    RichC Forum Resident

    Location:
    Charlotte, NC
    FYI, those record clubs that offered "11 albums for a penny!" still got to count ALL copies shipped towards an artist's sales total... Even though "sale" is a generous term when the customer paid the equivalent of 30 cents for it including shipping.

    Supposedly the Eagles "sold" millions through the Columbia and RCA clubs, and overtook MJ that way. He only regained the lead after his demise.
     
  20. Raunchnroll

    Raunchnroll Senior Member

    Location:
    Seattle
    Numbers don't lie? They sure do. They're no more reliable than the people, organizations, and intentions behind the tallying and reporting. In the case of these all time record sales - they so full of puffery they practically float. I'm sure Thriller is right up there - but why care?
     
  21. Maggie

    Maggie like a walking, talking art show

    Location:
    Toronto, Canada
    Great post. I read once--not sure how reliable the source was, but it was a Canadian music magazine about 15 years ago, that the average (mean) sales figures for a major-label album release in Canada at that time was 7. 7 copies. You could quibble with the math, which was probably arrived at by taking all the new releases on all the major labels' international rosters and dividing that figure (which was probably grossly unrepresentative of albums actually available in Canada) by Canadian sales. But still, it's interesting.
     
  22. thecdguy

    thecdguy Forum Resident

    Location:
    Philadelphia, Pa.
    "Together Again" was the only one from that album that got any major airplay here in Philly. I believe it's also Janet's longest charting single, with something like 46 weeks on the chart, despite other songs of hers being #1 for more weeks than this song. I also remember the label doing a discount pricing thing with the singles for "Together Again" and "I Get Lonely". At one point, I remember seeing them in stores (the CD single) for .49 cents. I guess it helped - "Together Again" went to #1 and "I Get Lonely" went to #3 (and #1 R&B). I don't remember ever hearing "I Get Lonely" on the radio, so it wouldn't completely surprise me if most of its chart points were due to sales.

    Aren't digital sales of albums counted along with physical sales when these lists are tabulated?
     
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  23. The Hud

    The Hud Breath of the Kingdom, Tears of the Wild

    I own 120.
     
  24. JohnnyQuest

    JohnnyQuest Forum Resident

    Location:
    Paradise
    "Together Again" sounds ultra cheesy. :laugh: The beat is smooth but the chorus sounds like something MJ would've sung on a charity single. Lol
    Did you purchase the album? Which song do you think they should've gone with as lead single?
     
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